2) If you want/need to code in Javascript, Mootools, makes it a pleasant experience. The best mootools primer can be found here: walkthrough.ifupdown.com/walkthrough-1.2/start. JQuery does a similar job but ever since I worked on a project that required mootools I have never used anything else. A lot of internet resources say you need to know javascript before using mootools but I don’t buy that–I think it makes javascript “dive-in-able” for anyone who has programmed in another language.

New(ish) Discoveries:
3) Pygame is my go-to resource for drawing things (especially things that move) on screens and making/reading images. Robust. Straightforward. Works.

4) I also need some way to output vector graphics with Python. The SVG format is a web standard (most modern web browsers render .svg images) so I have been exploring ways to output directly into this format. SVG also supports animation so if you are nostalgic for Flash, you’ll like this. I started out using PySvg but now am much more a fan of the SvgWrite library. SVG files are xml based, which means you can (among other things) open them in a text editor and understand them.

5) Chiplotle! It lets me control my plotters with Python. It also can be used to create .hpgl files, which can be plotted using your friend’s plotter and may be readable even by some contemporary vinyl cutters. (Many devices have an “HPGL emulation mode” which allows them to understand this primitive language)

6) I used to use this horrible shareware app to make animated gifs. I recently discovered you can file-open in photoshop and pick the first image in a sequence, check the image-sequence box, and you’ve got a multi-frame image. Do anything you want like resize or do adjustments then save-for-web as a gif and that’s it. (This may be one of those things that everyone new about except for me.)